Ensure the Quality of Your Information Systems

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Improving Data Warehouse and Business Information Quality
by Larry P. English
John Wiley & Sons, 518 pages, $44.99

Previously, Executive Help reviewed a book explaining how managers can use data warehouses for everything from product development to marketing (Data Warehousing Advice for Managers, by Patricia L. Ferdinandi). But what happens if your system is corrupting or eliminating your data, or generating inaccurate data? The answer, according to English, is to apply the concepts and techniques of total quality management to your information technology processes.

Introducing TQDM

In this comprehensive, well-written and well-organized text, English, an international expert in information and data warehouse quality, explains how to bring what he has labeled total quality data management (TQDM) to your company.

The book begins with an overview of the different concepts and principles of the quality management movement -- from W. Edwards Deming's 14 Points of Quality to the Baldrige Quality Award.

English then moves to the specific processes and techniques for improving information quality, including the quality of the architecture (or design) of your information tools. Assessing information quality in your databases and data warehouses, quantifying the costs of poor information quality, improving the information product (for example, correcting missing and inaccurate data), and improving the actual information production processes are all covered in this section.

Technical but Clear

English doesn't avoid technical terms but defines them consistently. The result is an in-depth manual that can be used by both managers and information technology specialists. Filled with illustrations, a detailed table of contents that makes finding the information you need quick and easy, and a 34-page glossary, this is probably one of the best manuals on information quality that you can find.

Copyright 1999 Soundview Executive Book Summaries

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